2023–24 Annual Report of the Commission of the Canada Energy Regulator – Appendix F: Commission Safety and Environment Oversight Orders and Directions
The following table summarizes the Commission orders, sometimes referred to as Safety Orders, and directions that were issued in 2023-24. The Commission can issue these orders pursuant to section 95 of the CER Act, to ensure the safety and security of persons and facilities and/or for the protection of property or the environment.
Many orders will remain in effect for several years, in which case CER staff will continue to monitor compliance with the order. It is necessary to keep these restrictions in place until such time the Commission is of the opinion that the company has sufficiently addressed underlying issues.
There were two variances to an existing order and one all company order issued in 2023-24. All Commission order and directions can be found on the Compliance and Enforcement website under “Commission Order and Directions”.
Order Number |
Date Issued |
Company |
Description/Reason for Order/Direction |
Resulting Action/Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
AO-010-SO-T217-03-2010 |
2024-03-12 |
Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. |
Variance order. Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. – Application for raising of restricted maximum operating pressure (MOP), pursuant to Condition 4.f of the order. |
The Commission granted TNPI’s application to raise the restricted MOP for the NPS 20 Clarkson to Toronto Airport on the basis that it met condition requirement. |
AO-009-SO-T217-03-2010 |
2023-09-06 |
Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. |
Variance order. Trans-Northern Pipeline Inc. – Application to delay repairs of weld anomaly until the end of 2023 |
The delay of the work would not likely jeopardize the integrity of the pipeline, therefore the CER rescinded Order AO-006-SO-T217-03-2010 and replaced it with Order AO-009-SO-T217-03-2010 to enable TNPI to delay the repairs until the end of 2023.TNPI confirmed the repairs and compliance with the condition of Order AO-009-SO-T217-03-2010, on 4 December 2023. No outstanding conditions remained for this order. |
MO-015-2023 |
2023-06-28 |
All holders of authorizations to build and operate pipelines |
A new edition of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z662 Oil & Gas Pipeline Systems Standard (Z662), was published in June of 2023. The CER is of the view that this edition of the standard, in its introduction of the optional Safety Class approach, contains changes that have not yet been demonstrated to consistently provide suitable levels of safety for certain activities that might be encountered in the operation of the pipeline. |
Until the Safety Class approach has been demonstrated to consistently provide suitable levels of safety, the Commission will need to oversee its use and requires certain information to assess whether a particular intended use of the Safety Class approach will provide a suitable level of safety. |
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